Cumberland Council enacts new road rules

CUMBERLAND — The Town Council unanimously enacted a new road acceptance ordinance Monday evening.

The ordinance was prompted by the expense of maintaining and improving the town’s existing roads. That burden caused the council to investigate options to limit the number of new public roads it will accept.

The ordinance stipulates that private roads, which have been built to the town’s subdivision ordinance standards, must have 75 percent occupancy, or at least 75 percent of homes on those roads must have occupancy permits, in order to be accepted as public roads, according to Town Manager Bill Shane.

Shane said the ordinance requires a road to be warrantied – via a letter of credit through the road developer’s bank – for two years. If, for example, a culvert or section of road should fail, money would be available to repair those or any other defects that occur on a newly-accepted road within two years.